Vice President Rupiah Banda has reaffirmed Government’s commitment to providing an enabling environment for increased local and foreign investment in various sectors of the country’s economy.

Officially opening a two- day Euromoney Zambia Conference in Lusaka today, Mr. Banda said Zambia has many investment opportunities hence the need for domestic, foreign direct and joint venture investment.

Mr. Banda said foreign investment would increase financial flows, internalisation of expertise from abroad and technology transfer as well as importation of good business practices that will assist Zambia become competitive at global level.

He explained that Zambia has since 2004 been implementing the Private Sector Development Plan which has reduced the process of registering a business from 21 days to three days in a bid to minimise the cost of doing business in the country.

He stated that Zambia continues to be a favourable investment destination because the country has maintained macro economic stability over a consistent period of time saying the direction and pace of the economy is predictable.

The Vice President noted that the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has consistently exceeded five percent over the past five years and inflation has reduced to single digit although it recently touched the double digit due to a rise in World oil prices.

Mr. Banda added that the Zambian government has significantly reduced borrowing from the local banking sector with the net domestic borrowing reducing to 0.1 of GDP in 2007 from 1.8 percent in 2005.

He said such a development meant there will be more money for more investment by the private sector in the banks.

He said the Zambian government placed emphasis on the stability of the financial sector to upgrade to the highest level of performance to boost investor confidence.

Mr. Banda said Government has therefore advised the Bank of Zambia as regulator to reform itself in order to deal effectively with the challenges of modern financial sector to ensure that pitfalls that have wrecked havoc in the financial markets of major economies are avoided.

On energy, the Vice President assured investors that Government was focusing on rehabilitating existing infrastructure to make it more efficient as an interim measure.

Mr. Banda further said electrical power energy is vital to the development of the economy and Government aims at creating more capacity through new investments.

Speaking at the same function, Finance and National Planning Minister Ng’andu Magande said regional integration is vital in attracting investment.

Mr. Magande explained that by promoting participation in regional markets such as the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC|)through greater openness to trade and investment, the market for firms investing in the country was large.

He said Zambia has a large pool of financial intermediaries from across the globe operating under a well functioning regulatory environment.

Mr. Magande however, said fears of a global recession due to the current turbulence in most western economies posed a serious threat to the domestic economy’s growth prospects.

He added that the current high oil prices which are around $130 per barrel also posed a serious threat to growth prospects of the Zambian economy due to the country’s inability to immediately substitute oil and related products for other energy sources.

The Conference has attracted among others world class investors, international business persons and consultants.

Zimbabweans seeking greener pastures in neighbouring Zambia – and an escape from the election violence wracking the country – are becoming increasingly concerned at the rising levels of contempt directed against them.

“We are being treated with a lot of indignation. Everywhere we go, we are being treated like lesser human beings; it’s like as long as you are a Zimbabwean woman in Zambia, then you are a prostitute [sex worker], which is not the case,” Patience Ndhlobvu, a Zimbabwean cross-border trader in the Zambian capital Lusaka, told IRIN.

“I personally take strong exception to that; this is not fair, it’s not a situation of our own making … Zambians have been very good to us, but it’s like things are changing [now]. Everyone is suddenly saying bad things about us. Just the other day, someone called me a prostitute as I was selling my products [sweets, chocolates and biscuits] in town.”

South Africa boast the continent’s largest economy and is a first choice destination for Zimbabweans seeking to escape the more than 80 percent unemployment rate and an inflation rate unofficially estimated at more than one million percent.

However, recent attacks by South Africans against foreign nationals, which has killed over 60 people and displaced tens of thousands, has seen an influx of about 25,000 Zimbabweans from South Africa to Zambia according to the Red Cross, more than double the number already thought to be in the country.

Levy Mwanawasa, Zambia’s president and chairman of the regional body the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), reportedly said the country did not have the capacity to host any more foreign nationals or refugees, as it was developing its former refugee camps into specialist institutions such as skills training centres.

Zambia was host to about 300,000 refugees fleeing the Great Lakes conflicts and the Angolan civil war during the 1990s; numbers have since fallen to about 113,000 following the repatriations of Rwandese, Congolese and Angolan nationals.

Mike Mulongoti, Zambia’s information minister and chief government spokesperson, said there was a concern Zimbabwe’s presidential run-off elections on 27 June could precipitate the migration of yet more Zimbabweans to neighbouring states.

Rising tensions between neighbours

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) won the 29 March parliamentary poll and almost snatched a first-round victory in the presidential ballot. But 60 people have since died in political violence following the elections, according to the MDC.

“We are continuously being inconvenienced as a people of Zambia,” Mulongoti told IRIN. “We can’t continue to deny that there’s something wrong going on there [in Zimbabwe] because their people are now coming onto our soil in thousands. They [Zimbabweans] are all over the place.”

Zambia’s diplomatic relations with Zimbabwe are strained – in part as a result of Mwanawasa convening an extraordinary SADC summit ahead of the 29 March election. Mugabe refused to attend the Lusaka meeting and his government launched vitriolic attacks against Zambia, along with Botswana and Tanzania, for doing the bidding of Britain, in “a campaign for speedy regime change in Zimbabwe”.

“As the government of Zambia, we take strong exception to the Zimbabwean government’s recent unwarranted attacks on us in the media. How long are we going to tolerate this? How long are we going to host these people? We did it during the struggle for freedom,” Mulongoti said.

Lee Habasonda, executive director of the regional good governance and human rights watchdog, the Southern African Centre for Constructive Resolution of Disputes [SACCORD], told IRIN South Africa’s xenophobic attacks, which appear to target Zimbabweans more than others, could spread to other countries if Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown was not addressed.

Zimbabweans resented in the region

“The thing is, it’s not just here in Zambia where Zimbabweans are being resented, even in Botswana, even in Mozambique, and even in Malawi the situation is the same. We have a lot of them coming to do businesses in unacceptable fields such as in the sex trade,” Habasonda said.

In April 2008, Zambian immigration officials deported about 60 Zimbabwean suspected sex workers from Livingstone, the country’s tourism capital.

The Immigration Department is attempting to curb the influx of Zimbabwean immigrants through Zambia’s Southern Province border posts of Chirundu, Kazungula and Kariba, “but it’s difficult to completely clamp down on these illegal immigrants because they don’t require any visas to enter Zambia. Some of them come with a day’s permit as visitors but never go back,” an immigration official, who declined to be identified, told IRIN.

“On average, we are having over 200 Zimbabweans crossing into Zambia every day,” he said.

Zimbabwe’s run-off presidential election could be the trigger for far larger numbers. “We are all keenly watching the situation in Zimbabwe. Whatever happens in Zimbabwe has a bearing on Zambia,” Neo Simutanyi, a senior political science lecturer at the University of Zambia, told IRIN.

“Clearly, the people of Zimbabwe want change, but chances of a free and fair election run-off are very slim. What we foresee taking place in Zimbabwe is a possible military coup or armed rebellion if the ruling ZANU-PF goes through, which will be very bad for Zambia and the region as a whole.”

[Source: IRIN, a UN humanitarian news and information service]

A farmers Association in Samfya in Luapula Province has expressed happiness with the set maize floor price of K45 000 (approximately US$13)by the Food Reserve Agency.

Samfya Farmers Association says its members are happy with the price.

Association Treasurer Jestus Mwenya said in Samfya that the new selling price for maize had cheered farmers.

He said it had always been the farmers outcry for the selling price of maize to be raised to at least k40 000 and above.

Mr Mwenya said the development was an indication that FRA had listened to farmers’ demands.

FRA chairperson Costain Chilala recently announced the new maize price for this maize marketing season.

Previously, farmers were selling a 50 kg bag of to FRA at K38,000 but will now sell the commodity at K45,000 for the same quantity.

Meanwhile,Samfya Farmers Association has bemoaned the continued poor organisation of the district agricultural shows.

Mr Mwenya said there had been no improvement in the way the Show Society was organised adding that the organising committee leadership failed to produce financial reports for fund raised during respective events.

He disclosed that farmers have since constituted a committee to lobby for change of leadership in the show organising committee.

He said one of the lapses identified in the committee was lack of representation from farmers and other stakeholder groups.

Mr Mwenya noted that it was imperative that farmers and other strategic partners sat on the committee.

Meanwhile, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has encouraged farmers in the country to view the soaring food prices as an opportunity to expand agriculture through the utilization of farm management skills.

FAO Country Representative Noureddin Mona said farm management skills are a great asset to small scale farmers and urged government to ensure that the farm management section under the department of agriculture is fully activated, functional and supported.

Dr. Mona said this during the close of a stakeholders meeting on capacity building in farm management for extension workers in Lusaka .

He said there is need for government to scale up the capacity building programme to the rest of the country so that all extension officers benefit.

Dr. Mona however reiterated FAO’s commitment as a stakeholder to the development of a robust agricultural sector through various programmes that include technical support programmes.

He said his organisation will continue to work with government to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, Fifth National Development Plan and the Vision 2030 by providing technical assistance in the agricultural sector.

And FAO Senior officer for enterprise development and agricultural management David Kahan said extension services have to be reoriented and made more efficient to focus on the market and production.

Dr. Kahan said in an interview that farmers need extension services for them to be aware of climate change effects to avoid crop losses due to variations in agricultural systems.

He said all farmers need to be furnished with appropriate data to be better organized in planning their cropping pattern.

He noted that extension officers should educate farmers on the need to diversify into other crops that are drought resistant or not affected by extreme weather conditions.

Former Information Minister, Vernon Mwaanga has advised members of the National Constitutional Conference (NCC) to be cautious when debating the 50 plus one percent clause of the draft constitution.

The Veteran politician said the NCC should ensure adequate safeguards are in place to protect people against the challenges that may come with the proposed piece of legislation.

He said the NCC should take into consideration what is happening in other countries, which have the 50 plus one law.

Mr. Mwaanga made the remarks was speaking at a University of Zambia students forum on national and international politics.

He also hoped the clause, if implemented, would not give what he termed an appetite to upcoming leaders to change the constitution to suit their needs.

And former Southern Province Minister, Samson Mulyata abandoned his planned contribution before the National Constitution Conference (NCC) Public Service Committee.

This was because a Zambia National Broadcasting Cooperation ZNBC news crew was capturing the deliberations on Camera.

Mr. Mulyata who rose to debate on Republican Presidential powers on deployment of peace keepers, refused to proceed with his contribution when a ZNBC crew tried to record his debate.

He asked the crew to switch off the camera before he could make his contribution.

But NCC Chairperson, Chifumu Banda raised a point of order on why Mr. Mulyata was interfering with the work of the media.

Government has lodged a formal protest with Zimbabwe over continued accusations that Lusaka is in league with Western nations to oust President Robert Mugabe, Foreign Minister Kabinga Pande said.

Mr Pande said the Zimbabwean government, through its mouthpiece the state-run Herald newspaper, has regularly accused President Levy Mwanawasa of pushing for regime change in Harare.

“We have lodged a note verbale, which is a diplomatic communication to the Zimbabwean government, to protest over the sustained malicious campaign against Zambia,” Pande said in a statement.

Relations between Zambia and Zimbabwe have been strained ever since Mwanawasa likened the economic meltdown across his country’s southern border as a ‘sinking titanic’ and urged other African countries to intervene in the situation.

Mwanawasa, who is head of the 14-member Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), has been pushing for hardline stance on Zimbabwe although other countries prefer a more softly-softly approach.

In a piece earlier this week, the Herald said Mwanawasa had “admitted that he was under pressure from Britain and its Western allies to exert pressure on Zimbabwe” and said his “confession followed a series of questionable decisions over Zimbabwe”.

According to a diplomatic source, almost all diplomatic contacts between the two countries have been curtailed in recent months after Zimbabwe’s government accused Zambia of receiving ‘aid’ from the West to push for regime change.

[AFP]